AAP vs BJP: The battle has just begun

If there is one party the ruling BJP at the Centre is wary of, it is Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Born in the throes of the civil society movement against corruption scandals during Congress rule in 2012, the party became the platform for thousands of young and spirited activists to vent their anger against all that was not right with Indian society and politics.

Eleven years down the line, AAP is a potent political force on the national scene, ruling two states – Delhi and Punjab – with a not-so-insignificant presence in several other states. The space knowingly or unknowingly vacated by the Indian National Congress in several states, has been taken over by them with ex-bureaucrats and politicians disgruntled with the policies of established parties entering the AAP fold.

So as the Congress goes about its revival plans, propelled by the success of its recent Bharat Jodo Yatra, it is AAP that the BJP has set its sights on, unleashing probe agencies against its top leaders. The now-scrapped Excise Policy of the Delhi government that was all about awarding liquor vends through open tenders, was exactly what the BJP was looking for with central agencies subjecting AAP’s top guns to a close scrutiny while searching for clues that would put the ‘rising star’ on the political horizon in a tight spot.

While Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain was the first to be netted by the CBI in a money laundering case, the latest arrest of Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenant and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, has triggered nationwide indignation in what many consider an act to deprive the Delhi CM of his best administrators. Have these acts taken parties places? The state of Tamil Nadu has seen such arrests in ample measure with two former CMs – the late Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK and Karunanidhi of the DMK – being arrested in what many consider ‘tit-for-tat’ acts of reprisal.

Decades ago in 1978, the Janata Party government arrested former PM Indira Gandhi in what many considered was a vindictive act for imposing the Emergency. leading to protests from Congressmen. And they had their revenge when the Congress, led by Indira, swept the Parliament polls held in 1980 and she became PM again. There is nothing easier than finding skeletons in a politician’s cupboard, for politics is wound around the ‘twin towers’ of money and muscle power. Fighting elections requires funds running into crores that inevitably force politicians to circumvent the rules and make sure they get their hands on much-needed moolah.

There is nothing like a ‘clean election’, for voters have to be pampered, party workers have to be cared for and the poll machinery has to be ‘well-oiled and greased’, so that it can take on opponents, all of which require funds, yes in crores. What the BJP is probably trying to destroy is the veneer of clean politics and corruption-free governance that the AAP has assiduously built up over the years. And once this image of a ‘party with a difference’ against which corruption charges won’t stand, is destroyed, BJP leaders know that they can take apart Kejri’s party like any other political force, dubbing them corrupt like anyone else.

This battle of wits is likely to go on for some time – maybe even till the 2024 Parliament polls. But those in the ruling party would be better off realising that the people are watching their every move and no one can dump dedicated politicians behind bars unless there is enough and substantive evidence against those they try to prove guilty. Political machinations based on ulterior motives to beat foes by any means – fair or foul – are something the citizenry of this great country has never approved of.